Pasadena Police launch raids after several gang related shootings

Authorities in Pasadena seized nine firearms, including two assault rifles, and took ten people into custody as a result of increased patrolling due to two recent gang-related shootings in which two people were killed, and three were wounded.

The arrests were made during three different traffic stops on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The ten individuals were arrested on suspicion of having gang affiliations or being felons in possession of firearms, as well as for violations of parole and probation, Pasadena Police spokesman Lieutenant Vasken Gourdikian said.

No suspects have been apprehended for the Friday and Saturday shootings at Claremont Street and Fair Oaks Ave, as well as for the December 22nd deadly shooting of a man at the same place, according to the San Bernadino Sun-Times.

Gourdikian said investigators consider the shootings to be gang-related.

Detectives are investigating whether rival groups in Duarte and Altadena are involved. Gourdikian stated that it appears the Pasadena Denver Lane Bloods are fighting with Crip gangs in Altadena and Duarte. However, he is unaware as to why the dispute began.

A vigil on Friday at Fair Oaks Ave and Claremont Street became fatal when someone in a car started shooting at the group. Two men, Antoine Dewayne Sutphen Jr. and Ormani Dajan Duncan, were murdered, and a woman and a man were hurt in the incident, one of which is listed in critical condition.

Police said the vigil was for 25-year-old Brandon Douglas who was fatally shot on December 22nd in the same area. Officers dispatched to a call of gunshots and discovered a wounded Douglas on the sidewalk.

Douglas succumbed to his gunshot wounds at a local hospital.

The most recent shooting occurred on Saturday night where a 25-year-old man was shot in the thigh.

Because of the incidents, the department placed more officers to patrol the streets.

Gourdikian said the cops stopped a car with two people. One fled but was captured. Gourdikian said both men had loaded weapons on them at the time. A third man was later arrested.

Gang enforcement officers pulled over a vehicle they considered to be suspicious on Sunday night and arrested Richard Toney, 26, Marcus Momon, 32, and Kaquann Offutt, 27. Gourdikian indicated that the suspects were armed with a loaded assault rifle and handgun.

On Monday, just after 2 a.m., he said patrol officers pulled over a vehicle and seized five firearms, which included a loaded assault rifle. They arrested Randy Broadnax, 29, Marvin Evans, 30, Derek Brown, 31, and Dwayne Ellis, 33.

“These arrests and seizures serve as a reminder that high-capacity weapons are in the hands of criminals. I am hopeful that through police enforcement strategies, along with information sharing among law enforcement, we will arrest those responsible for the recent murders and bring them to justice,” Phillip Sanchez, the Pasadena Police Chief, said in a statement.

Lieutenant Brian Bishop of the sheriff’s Operation Safe Streets stated that they are looking into the shootings but have no substantial evidence at this point.

“It’s early in the investigation. We’ll be reaching out to Pasadena,” Bishop stated.